New look for county seat

LaPorte courthouse renovations could begin this month.

LaPorte courthouse renovations could begin this month.

February 07, 2006|SHARON DETTMER Tribune Correspondent

LAPORTE -- LaPorte County Courthouse will undergo a $2.8 million renovation as early as the end of February. Last week, the LaPorte County Council unanimously approved a bid of $2,821,910 submitted by Ziolkowski Construction Inc. of South Bend. "This project means a whole lot to me, personally," said LaPorte County Board of Commissioners President Marlow Harmon. "The courthouse is one of the oldest buildings in the county. It is the county seat. I'm ecstatic that work will begin." This catapults a three-year quest by county officials to fund needed repairs to the courthouse designed by Fort Wayne-based architect Brentwood Tolan. The 112-year-old Richardson Romanesque-style structure, finished in 1895, is made of Lake Superior sandstone. The sandstone is now in need of masonry work, according to Tim Wall, of Ken Herceg and Associates of South Bend. Wall is the project's architect. Ziolkowski Construction was the lowest bidder, Wall said, because the company employs masons, so masonry work does not have to be sub-contracted. Masons perched on scaffolding will scour the building, tapping with equipment to dislodge loose pieces of stone. The structure will be 100 percent re-pointed. Past re-pointing will be replaced to bring the building up to current historic restoration standards, Wall said. Cracks will be replaced with an injected liquid mortar that binds to stone. A few sculpted faces on the building have chunks missing, including noses and mouths, Wall noted. "One on the south side of the building looks like it has a harelip." The cracks in the sandstone, in fact, are a bigger problem to fix than fallen chunks, Wall added. Included in the renovation will be stone restoration, all new energy-efficient windows -- 131 in all. In addition, 82 stained-glass windows will be restored and/or placed in insulated, double-pane glass. An interior skylight near the bell tower will be stripped of light-robbing paint applied years ago. Foundation work will be completed by adding a clay membrane around the building's perimeter to stop water leakage into the basement, Wall said. "This is definitely a good step forward," Harmon said. "We hope the renovations will last for the next 100 years."